Jonathan Janz

Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, which explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows "the best horror novel of 2012." The Library Journal deemed his follow-up, House of Skin, "reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub's Ghost Story."

Since then Jonathan's work has been lauded by writers like Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Tim Waggoner, Bryan Smith, and Ronald Kelly. Novels like The Nightmare Girl, Wolf Land, Savage Species, and Dust Devils prompted Thunderstorm Books to sign Jonathan to an eleven-book deal and to give him his own imprint, Jonathan Janz's Shadow Side.

His recent novel, Children of the Dark, received a starred review in Booklist and was chosen by their board as one of the Top Ten Horror Books of the Year (August 2015-September 2016). Children of the Dark will soon be translated into German and has been championed by the Library Journal, the School Library Journal, and Cemetery Dance. Jonathan's newest release, which will appear on March 15th, is called Exorcist Falls (and includes the novella Exorcist Road).

Jonathan's primary interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children, and though he realizes that every author's wife and children are wonderful and amazing, in this case the cliché happens to be true. You can learn more about Jonathan at www.jonathanjanz.com. You can also find him on Facebook, via @jonathanjanz on Twitter, on Instagram (jonathan.janz) or on his Goodreads and Amazon author pages.

Author Updates

My family and I are about to eat lunch, so I’ve gotta be quick…
Firstly, the reviews for EXORCIST FALLS started off well and have switched over into out-and-out raves. Here are just a few…
The Novel Pursuit
Horror After Dark
Into the Macabre
I’ll have more news soon about EXORCIST FALLS, as well as information about a really exciting book coming later this year from one of my favorite publishers.
In other news, next week I’ll become the las

Hey, friends. Hope your April has kicked off well. Mine has, both writing-wise and otherwise, and I’ll be bringing you some updates soon. For now, though, I want to talk about something else.
I want to talk about Sundance’s television show HAP AND LEONARD.
Full Disclosure: I’ve been a Joe R. Lansdale fan for many years. I first encountered Joe’s work as a sophomore in college (a nasty shocker of a novel called THE NIGHTRUNNERS) and have been in love with his writing ever since

The outstanding book reviewer Shane Douglas Keene, writing for Hellnotes, just finished my new novel EXORCIST FALLS and had this to say about it:
“His best book to date.”
“Absolutely punishing in its intensity.”
“His characters are all delightfully alive and exquisitely broken.”
“Every new thing he brings us is a sublime example of the supreme talent he has and the uncanny ability to immerse us so fully in the story that we come out the other side feeling like

Hey, friends. It’s nutty around the vacation home right now. The wife’s in France on a free trip. The kids and I are rocking Disney and Universal Studios.
And EXORCIST FALLS is celebrating the eve of its release. What better a way to prepare for the big day tomorrow than with a glowing, fantastic video review?
Erik Smith, the kingpin of The Low Budget Review Show, just gave EXORCIST FALLS a six-out-of-five wooden cross review, and I couldn’t be happier about it. Especiall

Howdy. I posted a couple months ago that eight of my novels were about to become unavailable for a while. Though there was a delay in that process, it looks like it’s now happening. The long and short of it is that my first publisher (Samhain Publishing) is closing, which means that the rights to my first eight books are returning to me.
I feel very bad for the people affected. Samhain employed some incredible human beings that I’ll always consider friends. They’re smart, talented, an

Hey, friends. I have a new novel about to launch on March 15th, but this is no ordinary release. Not only is my full-length novel EXORCIST FALLS coming from Sinister Grin Press, but included in the same volume will be the novella that started it at all, EXORCIST ROAD, for the first time ever in print.
Here’s the glorious Matthew Revert cover:
In case the notion of two books in one sounds daunting (for those of you after a brisk read), the total word count will end up arou

For some authors, creating a large body of work doesn’t mean quality has to suffer. Unfortunately, there are readers and critics who make exactly that assumption. As a result, when you’re as prolific as Stephen King, you’re prone to the following dangers:
–Folks using verbs like “spewing,” “spitting,” “cranking out,” or “vomiting” in reference to the frequency with which you’re published.
–More books mean more opportunities for criticism. In that vein, many readers tend to for

For some authors, creating a large body of work doesn’t mean quality has to suffer. Unfortunately, there are readers and critics who make exactly that assumption. As a result, when you’re as prolific as Stephen King, you’re prone to the following dangers:
–Folks using verbs like “spewing,” “spitting,” “cranking out,” or “vomiting” in reference to the frequency with which you’re published.
–More books mean more opportunities for criticism. In that vein, many readers tend to for

Hey, friends. It’s great to see you again. I’ve blogged less this year, and I reckon that’ll continue into 2017. The bright side, however, is that I’m using that time to work on my novels.
I should start by mentioning how sad it is to lose Carrie Fisher, who when I was a child became my very first crush, and who during my adulthood became someone I admired and respected. It’s a good feeling to learn that someone whose movies you love is also a very cool person, and

A company named Samhain Publishing was a major part of the beginning of my writing career. Editor Don D’Auria gave me my start there when he acquired THE SORROWS, my debut novel. From the time that paperback came out early in 2012 until the fall of 2015, most of my published works were born under the Samhain name.
Eight novels, one novella.
On January 1st of 2017, those books will no longer be with Samhain (to put it succinctly, they’re discontinuing their horror lin